Some whales can be up to 50 feet long, but it’s fair to say this one is probably a few feet shorter than average.

That’s because scientists reckon he is suffering from a bent spine giving new meaning to the ‘humpback’ whale.

Spotted off the coast of Hawaii’s Kauai Island on Monday, the humpback was first thought to have been hit by a boat, causing the incredible disfigurement.

In distress: The injured humpback was spotted off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii from an ultralight aircraft this week

But David Schofield, marine mammal response coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, dismissed the boat theory, suggested it was more likely to be scoliosis – or curvature of the spine.

He told a local newspaper: ‘They're not like cartoon animals.

‘They don't hold the shape of the contusion. Sometimes they'll have like a little imprint, but it's just not too plausible to see that if the animal had been impacted there that the peduncle or the tail shaft would've stayed that way.’

Scoliosis is rare but scientists say they have seen it in other marine mammals like dolphins.

 
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356199/Is-humpback-whale-The-incredible-picture-crooked-scoliosis-cetacean.html#ixzz1DpS8EPEr

sunday times this morning there was a story about some stupid young fisherman spearing a black ray called stumpy as it had no sting,people used to pat it in shallows,these dumbass fisherman speared it and chopped it up just for sake of it in front of about 40 people including kids who were crying,apparently some people had to be stopped from attacking these young fishos,apparently they didnt break any law but this sort of thing just shouldnt happen

ive been buying heaps of bait mate tuna oil just wondering if its worth to keep buying or is their somthing else i should use to catch sharks off ammo rocks

Whats the view and opiniom about doing this. Was in a fanatastic little super cell yesterday off Dampier. Its was awesome to see, but I dragged all the graphites off the Targa/rocket launcher bar, stuck them in the cab and fished with my troll rigs only, which are all glass, but way to heavy for the job.

Just wondering whether I am over cautious with the Graphite rods?

Neels

Hi all

I have been going to Lancelin everyweekend for the last 9 years. Recently after surfing back beach my dad took me for a ride in our car up there for a flick for tailor. after 10 minutes of no results we got bored and decided to go back home. On the way home we saw a fisherman land a fish. I asked him what it was and he did not know so I got out of the car and had a look and it was a Dart. The next day I was looking for another good surf spot and I found another fisho who had also caught a Dart! Then when I went out surfing i saw 2 MASSIVE schools of herring all bundled up in a black smudge bu when they went past I saw that they had black tail tips so deffinatly a Herring school!

Do herring usually school like salmon....i know there speicies is related?

Are Dart usually caught there?

Cheers

Tommyqueenfish

Another short tailor fish this morning with all my mates.......

PB 49 cm tailor on metal lure, took 4 nice runs and was very stubborn in the shalllows on 12 lb gear....excellent.

 Have been meaning to put this out there for a while.As the technology gets better keeping spots a bit quiet is going to get harder.I dont mean to discourage guys from taking others fishing as it will be a sad day when you cant trust anyone.Just be aware that with the new i phones,cameras and video cameras a fair few of them now have gps locators so now a pic can ping the spot.In theory if you take a pic of the deckie on your boat with his camera or i phone then you are pushing the ping button for them.Just a word of caution.

hey guys whats a average price i would pay fro a penn 850 which comes wiht a rodcombo??

 hey guys me and my mate are going down woodman point groyne tomorrow 

any ideas what we should go for??? much squid there these days??

and what would the weather be like in the way of wind,swell and tides

As only a douche bag would, I used my beloved artic blue spotters as safety glasses when angle grinding recently. The result was some bad burns spots right in my line of vision! Has anyone purchased some similiar glasses recently and know who has a good price on them? Also those madfish glasses...any opinions on them?

I'm Curious

I'm watching Jason Kennedy's fishing program on aurora at the moment (not the best produced show in oz -   stated he has colour AFTER the camera showed the fish on the surface next to the boat!!!)

my question is though, he stated after he brought the estuary cod on board, that he was going to pierce him and then release him. I'm assuming he was referring to the swim bladder that was  very prominent

I am under the impression that you do not pierce the swim bladder - it's a death penalty for the fish.

Having never fished from a boat I cannot speak from experience, just what I've been told

Any comments folks?

Phil

 Hi all

Is anyone planning on going out fishing tomorrow, based on the weather forecast for tomorrow....I'm hanging out to wet a line (and clock up some more hours on the boat). The BOM website is forecasting 15/20kn Easterlies, easing to 10/15kns during the morning, then going SSW 8/13kns in the afternoon. Seas 1.0 - 1.5m, swell to 1m. 

This sounds pretty good to me, but before I head to the ramp I'll take a quick trip down to the beach for a look.

I know it's been blowing a gale for a while now and I don't want to head out if the conditions aren't right, but I'm just wondering what your thoughts are, thanks.

regards
rusty...

PS. The weather looked pretty good last Wednesday so I was at the ramp by 05:30, but once the boat was in the water, I had no water coming from the outboard's telltale....damn. Lifted the outboard for a look but the inlet was clear, lowered it again but still no water...damn. 

Dragged the boat out of the water and took it home, hooked up the earmuffs but still no water...damn. Packed everything away and decided to go to work...damn. As I walked past the boat to get into the car, I wondered whether the telltale could be blocked....no, it can't be blocked because I flush the outboard for 5 mins on the earmuffs after every use. Anyway, the entire rig is brand new so the outboard must be ok.....surely I couldn't have done a water pump?

Checked the telltale and there's some brown crusty stuff in and round the hole, so I poked it and cleared the hole, dragged the boat out again and ran it again on the earmuffs....this time there's water p*ssing out the telltale.....DAMN. At least I know the water pump is ok, but WTF was the brown crusty stuff?

Put the boat away and went to work as it was gone 7am and the forecast suggested an early sea breeze. The moral to the story is 'check the telltale is clear before you leave home' and 'when you start the outboard and there's no water, check the telltale'!!

Well, it was Dollie for dinner Wednesday and Thursday (sensational), baked dhu last night (no comment required) and BBQ tailor for breaky this morning.

A great 4 days of piscatorial delights.

Tailor was caught on stickbait, went 46 cm. Still a bit dark when I took the photo on iphone.....

Seriously WTF? Someone has been feeding that dolly roids! It was caught by Dennis Braid landed this one in Panama...

Dennis Braid says;

Here's some info on the bull dorado. Last month I was in Panama shooting an episode of Best & Worst with Tred, our main focus was on tuna and marlin. We were making a pass along the edge of the reef trolling live bonitas when we hooked a dorado about 30 lbs. As I recall we caught a couple more a little smaller, then the rod goes off and just keeps going. At first I thought it was a billfish then it jumped and it was obvious it was a dodo. But it was so far out we couldn't tell how big it was. After a few minutes I started to think this is not the same size as the others, then it started taking more line. Geez this thing pulled and when it was not taking line it would just lay broadside making it very tough to gain line. When I got it about 30ft from the boat we could see it was a big fish and it really didn't want to come in the boat.

Gaffing the beast was something else, and it damn near killed the mate. I knew it was a big fish but didn't realise how big until the cameraman sent me the photos a couple of days ago. By the way the knee pads were for protection as the transom had no padding and was very sharp & painful on the knees. The whole catch will be shown on Tred's show sometime later this year, also will include lots of other species and some unbelieveable tuna feeding footage.

I taped the fish just in case my taxadermy guy had a mold close to the specs, unfortunatly I didn't get an official weight on the fish as I didn't think it was that big at the time, and then I recieved the photo the other day and thought damn it's bigger than I thought. Oh well there must be another one just like it still out there. Thanks for the many kind responses and also the funny one's.

Head width 18.5
Leangth to inside tail fork 62.25 in

Cheers,
DB.

Went for a quick fish the other day. Caught five dhuys and a nice nanny. I got one dhuy on the metals and two on SPs.

Was back by 11am and playing golf at 1pm. Ended the day with a BBQ with mates and heaps of coldies.

Dhu baked whole tonite......say no more.

anyone going on big als poker run tomorow?

I have the old school FH stradics. As you may know they do not have a waterproof drag! Do any of you know whether the waterproof spools and drag knobs fit these? And has anyone retro fitted there,s with a waterproof setup? Thanks

do you need a skipper ticket for a little dingie on the river

What have people been using for whiting recently with the most success?

With all this bloody wind recently on weekends I might have to admit defeat with going out wide and try fishing in close a bit more often.

Have heard ox heart, squid and prawns before, but have actually never specifically targetted whiting so am a complete novice.

Is a paternoster with v small hooks the go? Or more a running sinker down to a single hook?

Any info appreciated, might head out on the weekend.

Dan

Heard a rumour that a 250kg marlin was caught of mandurah a couple of days ago buy a charter boat,Has anybody heard anything about this or have any details Bring on gamex only 5 weeks

How awesome is this photo and story!

I'd be counting my lucky stars too - now you don't see it - now you do!

Enjoy

So don't feel like writting much of a story, instead I'll let the photos and captions tell it. We all like photos better anyway! 

Early start and rigged to jig!

First drop and hooked up 20m off the bottom to what I thought was a small sambo only to be surprised by this nice pinky!

My cousin Nat also hooked up at the same time and landed his first jigged sambo!

Then it was my brother Rob's turn to land his first too!

Out came the big guns, the PE1!

We landed about 15 or so small sambos to start of the day.

Then it was time for some dinner gathering.

Nat's first dhuie!

Then came a biggg hook up, called at first for a dhu, then a giant cuttlefish, and finally a big sambo. 20 minutes later....

We couldn't believe our eyes when this big girl popped to the surface 30m away from the boat. After a few photos we tried for 10 minutes to release the old grandmother with release weight with added sinkers but just couldn't get her down. She had worn herself out and had nothing left. (Any advice on getting a big fish down like that? Is it worth popping their air bladder with a knife to get them down or does that do more harm anyway?)

So new PB for me, pushed my scales down to 20kg! Caught on a 5inch Mcarthy Paddletail in Baby Elf colour, my fav dhuie slayer plastic!

Rob also landed his first ever dhuie!

And another for me on a pirate style jig.

Nat got a 2nd one also. 

We jigged up a few more sambos to finish off the day...

Screen shots from a short video taken as a hooked sambo came up with some friends.

Another great day out with PB's and firsts for everyone! Another 2 guys are hooked on jigging! 

Check this out, and the gallery linked to the story. One for you Adam.

http://www.news.com.au/national/escaping-the-jaws-of-a-monster/story-e6frfkvr-1226004073414

Hey all,

Stumped between the shimano symmetre 4000fj or the Daiwa Exceler 4000DA

reel will be used for tailor, herring and maybe the odd salmon if the chance comes around.

All opinions wanted please.

Cheers

Hello all im thinking off starting to jigg for dhufish and snapper etc an wondering whats everyones prediction on brands types and colours any info would be great cheers

hi guys,

looking to start fly fishing in the not to distant furture and have been reading through some old threads and websites and the pflueger combo and the gillies combo seem to keep popping up.

Are they good starter rods/reels? I was thinking to have about 6/7 wt as I only will really use it for bream, herring and gars. Maybe some salmon if I get over to rotto.

Cheers

 heres some ground we found and caught those bloody green eyes

what do you reckon guys would you go back??

anyone know much about the place?

an opportunity has come up to purchase an onsite van in the caravan park there, just wondering what the place is like?

Ive never been there, apparently there is a beach launch similar to port gregory?

Anyone able to fill me in on some details about the place? Whats there, fishing, launching a boat if possible?

Thanks guys